Bjørn Stærk, May 2008
Not sure what do watch next? Finished with Sopranos, The Wire, and [name your favourite here], and wondering how you'll ever make do with regular television again? No need to. Watch one of these well-written gems instead.
Babylon 5 (1993-1998)
The Universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice.
It's ironic that it would be Battlestar Galactica that finally gave sci-fi a respectable name in television, (ie. the "it's so good that it's not really sci-fi"-treatment), when it was Babylon 5 that first perfected the mode of storytelling that we now expect from all the best series: Long, thought out story arcs, character depth, and moral ambiguity. I like Battlestar Galactica, but there's a coldness to it that keeps me at arms length, and I often get the feeling that if you could dig beneath its hard, metal surface you would find .. nothing. For all its pompousness and prosthetics-based approach to alien life forms, Babylon 5 reaches into you, grabs hold, and never lets go. No backing away from emotions here, oh no. In contrast, the "hard and gritty" world of Ronald Moore appears less like honest realism, and more like a cowardly refusal to say or be anything.
Babylon 5 was written almost entirely by one man, Joe Michael Straczynski, who has recently been rediscovered by Hollywood, and is involved with quite a few upcoming movies. That will be interesting, but I doubt that he will ever surpass Babylon 5 at its third and fourth season peak.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1989-1997)
In every age
in every place
the deeds of men
remain the same
This Japanese anime has many similarities with Babylon 5, but is oriented even more towards politics. This is science fiction as written by a historian, with a historian's sense of the strange currents of war and society. Entire episodes are made up of charmingly academic historical lectures, and one of the main characters is a military commander who dreams of retiring to become a historian. With its historian-narrator and its epic battles and dynastic intrigues, if the historical scale of storytelling doesn't interest you, this series is not for you. The main inspiration is 19th and early 20th century Europe, with a liberal "English" Alliance at odds with an autocratic "Germanic" Empire, but the story is more subtle than this would indicate, and you cannot help but sympathize with characters on both sides. The underlying thrust of the series is, as you would expect, a bleak historian's message: That democracy inevitably goes rotten, that power inevitably corrupts, and that nothing is permanent except the suffering of the people at the bottom.
If your only experience with history in science fiction is the 13-year-old's understanding of Edward Gibbon that went into Asimov's Foundation novels and the Star Wars prequels, you owe it to yourself to see the subject dealt with by real writers.
The Sandbaggers (1978-1980)
If I want to send an agent to the lavatory, I need the Foreign Secretary's permission. If I want him to do anything when he gets there, I need the Prime Minister's written approval!
One could describe The Sandbaggers as a hybrid of James Bond and The Office, minus the jokes and the sexy women, but that would indicate that you're left with the worst of both. Nothing could be less true. Yes, this is a spy series that mostly takes place within a British government building. Yes, you should walk, run, trample over people to see it. Lesser storytellers need constant shoot-outs to hold your attention. Ian Mackintosh could get the same tension with five dull people in an office, and this gives the action scenes, when they do happen, extra impact. The Sandbaggers contains the single most haunting scene I have ever seen on television. You'll know it when you see it.
Freaks and Geeks (1999)
The dance is tomorrow. She's a cheerleader, you've seen Star Wars 27 times. You do the math.
Teenagers on television are usually written as and played by grown-ups. This is because real teenagers are terrible actors and not very interesting people. Who would want to see that, when you can get a 25-year old to voice the witty lines of 30- and 40-somethings? Not me. But it did work once, in Freaks and Geeks. That is to say, it didn't work, because nobody watched it, but they should have. This is so real that it is painful - and also charming and funny. I know these people. The kids, the teachers, the parents. This is the one series that captures it all.
Like Joe Straczynski, series creator Judd Apatow has gone on to Hollywood fame, but this is where it began.
Now and Then, Here and There (1999)
... a boot stamping on a human face - forever.
A look into the face of authoritarianism, seen through an African-like war of child soldiers. This is a brutal and unpleasant story. How could it be otherwise? The brutality does not lie in excessive violence as such - we're so accustomed to people beating each other up on television that it takes more than blood and punches to shock us. Or, rather, less. The brutality here lies in the mad gleam in the eye of authority as it kills and rapes and deceives and corrupts, and in watching children struggling and failing to remain kids. You'll want to watch this mini-series for the same reason you'll want to read Nineteen Eighty-Four, for its honest look at human darkness. And as you do, don't let the dimension-jumping distract you: This is real. This is happening.
Bjørn Stærk, 2008
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